1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to cutting machines such as bandsaw machines, hacksawing machines and circular sawing machines and more particularly pertains to apparatus for holding and feeding workpieces or materials to be cut in such machines.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As is well known, in cutting machines such as horizontal bandsaw machines and hacksawing machines, workpieces or materials to be cut are held by a vise which has jaws to grip the materials therebetween when they are being cut. Also, automatic cutting machines for cutting generally long materials are provided with two vises and are so constructed that one of the vises which is often called front vise holds the materials being cut at the cutting zone where cutting is performed by a cutting tool and the other vise which is often called rear vise holds and feeds the materials into the cutting zone. More particularly, the rear vise grips and brings the materials into the front vise which has opened its jaws at the cutting zone and then it is returned to its original position after the front vise has gripped the materials.
In conventional cutting machines, the trouble has been that the materials to be cut are slid in and into contact with portions of cutting machines when they are fed into the cutting zone. Also, in conventional cutting machines, the rear vise for feeding the materials is moved in contact with the materials when it is returned to its original position after having fed the materials into the front vise at the cutting position. Such being the case, much friction will be produced between the materials to be cut and portions of the cutting machines when and after the materials are fed into the cutting zone in the conventional cutting machines. Furthermore, since materials to be cut often have a more or less rough surface, there has been a tendency for the materials strike and sometimes damage portions of the cutting machines. Thus, the conventional cutting machines have suffered from a serious disadvantage that the materials to be cut cannot be exactly accurately fed into the cutting zone. Also, both of the materials to be cut and portions of the cutting machines often will be damaged when the materials are fed into the cutting zone.
Another disadvantage with the conventional cutting machines has been the fact that it is necessary to manually adjust the stroke length of one of the jaws of a vise or vises according to the size of materials to be cut. Accordingly, it has been very troublesome to adjust the opening or stroke length between the jaws of the vise or vises each time when it is desired to cut materials of different sizes in the conventional cutting machines.